Chapter 1652 — Thinking of a Way: "Mother, what are you saying!" Tang Yun said. "I am still your daughter — I was before, and I am now. Whatever you have to say, say it; I am listening..."

"That's right — if anything, it's me who had better watch my step, so that Yun-yun doesn't end up nursing a grudge against me..." Xiao Ming said, laughing too.

"In the end I still have to go back to the Ice Palace. This place — Mother and Aunt — I'm leaving them all to you, Tang Yun. Take good care of them for me!" Bing Tang sighed. The warmth of a family like this was pleasant enough while it lasted, but it lay far beyond her reach; once she was back in the Ice Palace, she would be that aloof Palace Master again, high above everyone else.

After the meal, Wei Zhao, Tang Yun, Feng Xiaoxiao, Xiao Qing, Xiao Ming, Bing Tang and Tang Yun's parents made ready to set out for the Hidden Tang family. On this visit, Xiao Ming also meant to tell Old Master Tang that she would be staying in Songshan City from then on, but she dared not bring it up herself; that was a word only Bing Tang could say for her.

The eldest young lady and Xiao Shu wanted to come along for the fun as well, but it was the Hidden Tang family's birthday feast, and the two of them had no kinship with the Tangs at all — not the remotest connection — so they had no reason to go. And it probably would not be much fun in any case. Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu stayed behind at the house.

"Wei Zhao, come with me!" Before they set out, Bing Tang called Wei Zhao aside alone into Tang Yun's room.

"Oh?" Wei Zhao blinked in surprise, but catching the hint in Tang Yun's eyes, he followed Bing Tang into the room all the same.

"You still haven't recovered your strength, have you?" Once inside, Bing Tang glanced at him and asked, flatly.

"Not yet. You have a way?" Wei Zhao was somewhat startled that Bing Tang should raise the matter with him on her own, though he supposed Tang Yun must have said something to her the night before.

Sure enough, Bing Tang went on: "If Yun-yun hadn't spoken up for you, I wouldn't be troubling my head over your affairs at all."

"Ha..." Wei Zhao laughed at himself. Yes — he, a fine Mystic-rank expert, was not even Mystic rank anymore. Without that connection by marriage, why would Bing Tang ever spend a thought on him? But Wei Zhao was a proud and stubborn man, and after the laugh he said only: "Count this as the second favor I owe you. When I get the chance, I'll pay them both back together."

"There's no need for that! This time, turn it over as I might, I still can't help you!" Bing Tang said. "If it were Xiaoxiao, I could use my own true qi — force it into her body by transmitting power, and help her break through, even at the cost of some of my own strength. So long as Xiaoxiao, Yun-yun and Mother are happy, I would do it for you. But your constitution and mine are worlds apart, and so are the arts we cultivate. Xiaoxiao tells me the art you practice is of the pure yang attribute; if I poured my true qi into you, you would practically fall into qi deviation! There is no way you could ever refine my true qi into your own!"

On this point Wei Zhao quite agreed with her. A small quantity of foreign true qi he could force-refine, but a great mass of a different kind — that was beyond even him.

At that moment Wei Zhao even felt a touch of envy for Zhang Naipao. That fellow's cultivation art really was formidable: he could refine the differing true qi of different people, refusing none, taking as much as came. Wei Zhao was the exact reverse — he could convert the all-purpose energy within his own body into true qi of another's attribute, in whatever quantity was wanted. He and Zhang Naipao were perfect opposites.

Compared side by side, each had its strengths; but at this stage, Zhang Naipao's art would have been rather more useful for Wei Zhao's present circumstances.

"Then... apart from waiting until next spring for me to mix up an antidote, there is no other way to rid myself of the poison?" Wei Zhao asked, a little disappointed.

"I haven't thought of one yet. But from what I have observed, you must have some means of rapidly restoring your strength, don't you?" Bing Tang asked. "Zhang Naipao drained you dry, and yet in a single night you recovered — and broke through besides. Without some secret method, that would be impossible."

"That's true enough!" Wei Zhao did not try to hide it, for the thing had happened on the Ice Palace's own ground, and the Palace Master could hardly be ignorant of it; she simply did not know the particulars. So he answered honestly: "I have tried to recover many times. But the moment I am back at Mystic rank, my strength drains away like water, so for now I can only bring myself back to the peak of the late Yellow rank."

"You mean to use that method to break through to Earth rank in one stroke?" Bing Tang was clever, and she saw his intent at once.

After all, Wei Zhao knew perfectly well that recovering to Mystic rank meant losing it again, yet he had done it over and over. Plainly he meant to force a breakthrough straight to Earth rank that way; otherwise, if one or two attempts had failed, he would have given up — what sense was there in restoring himself again and again?

"Yes!" Wei Zhao nodded in admission.

"Then at the very most, how far can you restore your strength?" Bing Tang asked after a moment's thought.

"The peak of the late Mystic rank!" Wei Zhao said. "In fact I could go further, but I am held back by the level I had before. I never broke through to Earth rank back then, so when I recover, I still have not broken through — and finding the opening for a breakthrough is very hard."

"Oh? You can raise yourself all the way to the peak of the late Mystic rank in one go?" Bing Tang was rather surprised; she had not expected Wei Zhao to be so formidable.

"It's passable, but it does me no good. Without a breakthrough, it drains away all the same," Wei Zhao said.

"If that is the case, then I do have a way to get you through to Earth rank... though there are certain drawbacks." Bing Tang frowned and said it only after a moment's hesitation.

"Let's hear it," Wei Zhao said. So long as there was hope, that was enough.

"That Qi Gathering Pill — do you still have it on you?" Bing Tang asked. "I remember you said before that you had one, and meant to trade it to me for the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit."

"I do. It is still with me!" Wei Zhao nodded, half guessing her meaning. "You mean I should take the Qi Gathering Pill? But isn't the Qi Gathering Pill taken at the peak of the late Earth rank, to break through to Heaven rank?"

"It can be taken at the peak of the late Mystic rank as well, to break through to Earth rank — it is just a bit of a waste," Bing Tang said. "The Qi Gathering Pill can be taken as an experience pill, or as a wonder elixir for shattering a barrier. But once you have taken one, the spiritual qi of heaven and earth will no longer have any effect on you. If you wish to cultivate after that, you will have to keep taking Qi Gathering Pills to raise your strength — the true qi contained in them is simply too pure. Even the spirit veins of the Ice Palace cannot compare."

"So that is how it is!" Hearing this, Wei Zhao actually breathed a sigh of relief. The spiritual qi of heaven and earth was of no use to him now anyway; and as for purity of energy, what could possibly be purer than the energy within the jade pendant's space?

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